25 Facts About Oliver Belmont

Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont was an American banker, socialite, and politician who served one term as a United States Representative from New York from 1901 to 1903.

Oliver Belmont became publisher of the Verdict, a weekly paper.

Oliver Belmont was born on November 12,1858, in New York City, New York.

Oliver Belmont entered the United States Naval Academy at the age of 14 in 1874.

Oliver Belmont graduated one year late, near the bottom of his class, in June 1880.

Oliver Belmont was commissioned as a midshipman and served for one year, resigning as a Cadet-Midshipman in June 1881 while serving on the USS Trenton.

Oliver Belmont became publisher of the Verdict, a weekly paper.

Oliver Belmont served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1900, and was elected as a Democrat from New York's 13th District to the Fifty-seventh Congress serving from March 4,1901, until March 3,1903.

Oliver Belmont was not a candidate for renomination in 1902.

Oliver Belmont received a huge inheritance when his father died in 1890.

Oliver Belmont was a bachelor at the time of his father's death and decided to build a summer house in Newport.

Oliver Belmont was an early member of The Lambs, elected in 1887.

Oliver Belmont was a charter member of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the Revolution in 1896.

Oliver Belmont was eligible for membership in the Society by right of his descent from Captain Christopher Raymond Perry who served as a privateer in the American Revolution.

In 1882, without his parents' consent, Oliver Belmont proposed marriage to debutante Sara Swan Whiting, a popular and beautiful socialite.

When Mrs Oliver Belmont realized his decline, she agreed to the marriage.

Oliver Belmont married Sara Swan Whiting in Newport, Rhode Island, on December 27,1882, at her family home, "Swanhurst".

Oliver Belmont took to frequenting gambling houses and brothels, drinking absinthe to escape the situation.

Oliver Belmont's personality was affected by the absinthe and he had a violent and abusive argument with his new wife, leaving her terrified.

Oliver Belmont abandoned her in Paris and was later seen in Bordeaux, traveling with a French dancer.

Natica Caroline Oliver Belmont was born on September 5,1883.

Oliver Belmont had been a friend of the Vanderbilts since the late 1880s, having accompanied them on at least two long voyages aboard their yacht the Alva.

Oliver Belmont died on June 10,1908, at his Brookholt estate in East Meadow, New York, from appendicitis.

Oliver Belmont was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.

Oliver Belmont's mausoleum, designed by Richard Morris Hunt, is an exact replica of the Chapel of St Hubert at Chateau d'Amboise in France and features a set of Renaissance-inspired painted glass windows designed by artist Helen Maitland Armstrong.